Clothespin Woes No More

If you walk into our backyard and look on the ground under our clothesline, you may think you've come upon a clothespin graveyard and feel badly that you didn't bring flowers.

It can be very windy at our house.  This is great for drying clothes on the line quickly but it means certain death for cheap clothespins.  Over the past few years I've actually been on a mini quest to find better clothespins. Almost every new store I enter (fortunately or unfortunately there aren't that many) I check out their clothespins.  Years ago, I bought some Martha Stewart clothespins.  They worked okay but as our family grew I needed more.  All I could find were small, China-made clothespins that didn't measure up. I had to make sure that I used the MS ones to hang up jeans and sweatshirts because the cheap ones would just slide apart, literally snapping under the pressure.  A couple years ago I even asked my mother in law to check around for me.  They live very near a large Amish community.  The Amish line dry their clothes so they must have access to decent clothespins, right?  She found me some (Thank you, Mom!) and they proved to be better than the cheapo ones, but only about as good as the ones from Martha Stewart.

The ones that I have that I LOVE are those that I inherited from my grandmothers.  Now, those clothespins mean business and I love their soft, worn edges that make me feel close to the women who used them weekly.  Unfortunately, I don't have that many of them.

So, last year when my blogging friend, Herrick Kimball, announced that he was starting his own clothespin business, Classic American Clothespins, I was SO excited.  He kindly gifted me the very first kit of clothespins- a great honor, indeed!

The kit came with everything we needed to put together 25 serious clothespins, including one pre-put-together clothespin.

I couldn't resist and immediately lined Kimball's clothespin up beside some of my others and compared them:

 The one on the left is either a Martha Stewart clothespin or one of the ones my mother-in-law found for me.  The two wimps in the middle are the cheap, China made ones (no offense, China).  The one on the right is Kimball's.  Notice the HUGE difference- both in size of clothespin over all and the sheer toughness of that spring.

Above are my grandmothers' clothespins with Kimball's in the center.  Look at those old beauties.  I'm planning on passing Kimball's clothespins down to my girls and hope by then they've developed the soft edges that come from years of loving use.

Back to the kit- Sam helped me lightly sand the wooden pieces with the sand paper and nail file that came in the kit.

On another day, I sat outside in the warm sun and applied a coat of linseed oil to protect them.  I love how it brought out the beautiful grain the clothespin pieces.

Sam and Jamey assembled the clothespins once they were dry.  We were so pleased with the quality of these clothespins and I couldn't wait to use them.

I've really been enjoying them this spring.  They are preforming just as I knew they would.  In fact, I've pulled out all the cheap clothespins from my clothespin bag to save them for crafts- they are not fit for laundry.  My bag is now full of the semi-decent ones, my grandmothers' clothespins and Kimaball's.  I find myself feeling around for my Classic American Clothespins though- they are my new first choice and easy to find in the bag because of their size.

Very well done, indeed.  

Read more about Kimball's clothespins here.

How is your relationship with your clothespins (not everyone will understand this question ;-))? Which ones are your favorites?